Our Plan

Departing Loyalist Cove Marina in Bath, Ontario in late August, early September 2015 to head south!   We'd cross the lake to Oswego, New York where we would clear US Customs/Immigration and then motor through the New York State canal system (the Oswego and Erie Canals) to the Hudson River, getting our mast back up in New York City.  From there we will make our way to the Chesapeake Bay, where we will cruise and wait out hurricane season.  With the first good weather window in November (bearing in mind that the perfect storm was in November!) we will start making our way south.

Our route from the Chesapeake is to be determined -  we could mix short offshore passages with a trek through 'the ditch' - the ICW, or Inter Coastal Waterway, down to Florida and from there the Bahamas.  While slow, this would have the advantages of allowing us to explore various cities and towns in the deep south while making shorter and typically safer treks until we have the boat - and ourselves, completely shaken-down for the cruise.  

Alternatively, we could make a 5-7 day offshore passage to Bermuda - although the North Atlantic is muy frio  (very cold) and the gulf stream crossing can get very nasty at that time of the year.  This is especially so if you get a common, in November, 'norther' - strong winds out of the north which collide with the rapidly northward moving current of the stream, creating violent, breaking waves. Trust me, it was nasty and chilly when we did a crossing from NYC to Bermuda in late June of 2014, on that occasion missing a hurricane by only 2 days!

Nevertheless, if by then we have the confidence in ourselves and the boat (and a short memory) there are some distinct advantages to taking this longer, riskier route.  First, it will get us out of the cold faster. Yes!  Second, we love Bermuda, albeit not the cost of living!  From there we can await the first good weather window from Bermuda and can sail directly to St Martin/Maarten (OK, nothing is exactly 'direct' on a sailboat), arriving in another 8-12 days. 

On this route, we must sail roughly another 200 nautical miles east of Bermuda into the Atlantic before making our way south.  There we will (hopefully) pick up the easterly trade winds, for the most part avoiding the discomfort of sailing upwind into wind and waves, as would be the case if we sail directly south from Bermuda..  Upwind sailing into heavy seas is not only uncomfortable, it can double your distance travelled as sailboats cannot sail directly into the wind.  And that is the big disadvantage in taking the ICW to Florida, then crossing the stream to the Bahamas and the Caribbean - that route is typically an upwind slog into heavy seas.  

We prepared with charts etc. for both routes and were content to delay that decision until November.  But first, we had to get ourselves and the boat ready for living aboard and for some some extended passages.  And we were under massive time constraints.

As John Lennon said, 'life is what happens when you are busy making other plans'.  We needed to get the boat ready to depart Bath by mid-September.  We were prepared to leave some detail work to be completed while underway - installation of new interior lights, finishing off one of the guest staterooms etc.  But the major work on the hull and deck (including a new paint job) obviously had to be done prior to our departure.  It wasn't.
   
Dave and Dixson from Loyalist Cove Marina were doing their level best to complete the structural work and paint in a timely way - even putting off projects on other boats that had been booked prior to ours.  Julie and I had also been working our tails off.  First, we had to get the house ready to sell.  Then purchase a shipping container for storage of what few belongings we were retaining to eventually ship to Isla Margarita - and delivering the rest to family members.  We had to source and purchase various pieces of gear and when time permitted, commute to Bath to work on the boat.

Once the house closed on August 14th, we then moved to a house we had rented in Bath where we could live until we were able to move aboard our boat.   For the next 8 weeks Julie and I worked seven days a week on the boat, virtually never breaking for lunch.  If you read the section of the blog entitled 'Our Boat', you will get some idea of what a massive undertaking this was.  And of course, every project on a boat takes twice as long as you expect.  Running hoses through small holes behind walls and flooring is next to impossible - at times we needed three people pulling and pushing and twisting thick 1 1/2" diameter hose for hours just to clear one 

bulkhead! 

Acquiring even simple things like correctly threaded/sized stainless steel machine screws is a nightmare. Although we have a huge supply of stainless steel screws, bolts, nuts, machine screws, washers etc., each new piece of gear we ordered seemed to require something we didn't have.  Sadly, also something the local marine stores didn't have.  We would have to order in almost everything and in the meantime, put partially finished projects on hold. 

The work being done by the marina ran into similar difficulties.  What should have been a simple matter of sanding, faring and priming the area around the waterline prior to painting, showed numerous small gelcoat spider cracks to which faring material would not adhere.  In the result, they were required to grind off all the gelcoat in that area, fare that, sand, epoxy barrier coat and then prime.

By the end of the first week of October it became clear that we were not going to be able to get underway this year.  Apart from work still to be done before the boat could be put in the water, thereafter we needed to test all systems (and expect some problems) prior to departing. And the weather was not cooperating.

There had already been some shut-downs in the New York State canal system due to flooding.  If we got stuck between locks when the canal was completely shut down for the year, the boat would have been stuck there for the winter.  There are no marinas prior to New York City with the equipment necessary to haul out a boat as wide as a catamaran.  We would, as result, have been required to buy 'bubblers' to keep the boat from freezing up, while staying aboard without heat and running water, to ensure that the generator and bubblers kept working.

In spite of this, Julie refused to give up hope. Dave Hinton, the owner of Loyalist Cove Marina and a good friend, even offered to sail the boat with Brad non-stop down the St. Lawrence river to Montreal and then Lake Champlain, so that we could bypass the canals.  What finally convinced her was her health.

As mentioned, we had been working 7 days a week on the boat regardless of the weather - and late September, early October were quite cold and wet.  After working in the cold all day we returned to the house we rented in Bath, where our landlady refused to turn on the heat.  Even though daily lows were approaching freezing.  And even though we were paying $2,200.00 every four weeks in rent.

On what turned out to be our last Sunday in Bath, Julie started to run a very high fever which would not lessen with Advil.  I finally convinced her to go to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a very bad case of bronchitis.  She needed not only medication, but bed rest in a home with some heat.  So the gig was up.

As a result everything is on hold until 2016.  In the meantime, we had some great non-sailing adventures in Florida and Montserrat, W.I.  We'll get you up to date in some regular blog entries soon.